What I Like About Winter
by baka deshi
Summary: [Complete] In which Yue sends mixed messages, Kero is a royal pain, and Touya is confused. And what does Yue like about winter, if anything? A light and WAFFy fic. Shounen-ai, TYY.


Warnings in effect: male-male relationship, a bit 'o smooching and slight naughtiness. Mostly just WAFF—oh lord, is it ever Warm and Fuzzy @.@ Set after the end of the series, so there are potential spoilers for everything. 

Pairings: Touya + Yukito/Yue 

A/N: _No_ idea what possessed me to write this. None. I'm usually not this silly, nor this sappy—this fic just jumped up and bit me during lecture one day :D I think I just like giving Touya a hard time ^_~ Proceed if you dare, but don't say I didn't warn you about the WAFF. 

~_~_~_~_~_~_~ 

Touya knew it was going to be a cold day even before he opened his eyes. His dreams had told him this, vague, unsettling nightmare where the King Penguin had come alive and chased him through a skating rink. It took him a while to figure out if the dream was real or not—one of the many hazards of living with sorcerers—but eventually he realized Yuki really couldn't be a giant snow bunny and decided to wake up. 

It was definitely cold. 

He opened his eyes reluctantly and looked around the room, taking a quick stock of where he was and what was happening. He was in his bed…in his room…and there were no homicidal waterfowl to be seen. Life was good. He rolled over to check the alarm clock and noticed something even more spectacular. Like the icing on a cake, his windowsill was frosted with piles of fluffy white. 

_Snow…_ Touya thought sleepily. _It snowed._

He squinted hard out the window, trying to tell if any snow was still falling. A few flurries maybe, he decided, but nothing major. Perfect. He nuzzled the figure beside him and smiled softly. Yukito loved the snow. Any minute now he'd be waking up, and then Touya could give him a kiss and tell him to look out the window… 

"SNOW!!!! IT SNOWED!!!" 

Apparently someone else had noticed too. 

"Oh gods…" Touya groaned and fell onto his back. "It's way too early for this." Yukito shifted beside him, trying to give him some room. For the first time, Touya noticed how cold the air seemed, at least compared to the heat of his lover's limbs. Was it always this cold in his room in the morning? 

"SNOW SNOW snow snow…" 

The Plushie was NOT going to shut up on his own, that much was clear. 

Resigning himself to his fate, Touya flipped onto his stomach and pushed up onto his hands and knees. He climbed over Yukito, and smiled briefly as his lover raised one arm to stop him. Times like these, they often got "stuck"—Touya would start climbing out of bed, only to find Yukito's slender arms wrapped around him like a vise. Oh, he'd _try_ to get free, but inevitably he'd realize how warm and near and beautiful Yuki was, and they'd both just give up and "sleep in" for another hour. 

"Snow snow snow SNOW!" 

Unfortunately, it seemed Yuki was far too tired for any mischief, and Mr. Sunny Yellow, I-have-stuffing-for-brains Kero T. Plushie was hell bent on waking the entire world up. Touya growled and slid out of bed, wincing as his feet hit the icy floor. Times like these, he knew why the stupid animal was named after the guardian of Hell. 

"SnooooowwwIINNNNGGG!" 

"…s'mbody turn him off…" Yukito muttered behind him, and flopped over onto his side. Touya gave his shoulder a kiss, and turned to look for his slippers. 

The air was chillier than it should be, and Touya fancied he could even see his breath. That was certainly unexpected, and he wasn't terribly pleased about it. All signs pointed to the heating unit, which seemed to be gimping along even worse than usual. The fan was barely moving, and he couldn't see that it was even blowing hot air. 

"Piece of shit!" he growled, and punched the rusty contraption hard in the side. The ancient machine wheezed and belched a single blast of heat before settling for "lukewarm with asthmatic whine". Touya sighed and gave up. He really needed to talk to Dad about getting a new one, this was just getting ridiculous. For the time being, he decided on a bathrobe and wrapped it around his body like armor. 

"Snow snow snow snow SNOW SNOW SNOW snow snow snow…" 

He stuck his head out into the hallway and made one futile, furtive glance toward his sister's doorway. Of course she wasn't actually awake yet, that would probably take twenty more rounds. Touya growled and shut the door behind him, figuring Yuki would probably appreciate the extra sound barrier. Ever since the rest of his family had become magicians, they'd gotten terrible about waking in the morning. It was really annoying. If he had to be up dealing with this, so did they. He thought about pounding on the wall for a while, but that would probably bother Yukito as much as it did anyone else. 

"Snow snow snow…" 

The one good thing about the Plushie was that his patterns were predictable. When he was orbiting the house, he always did it in the same fashion. Through the kitchen…into the laundry room…up the stairs…down the hall to Sakura's room… 

Touya counted backwards from ten and stuck out his arm. 

"Snow snow snow SNOW SNOOOOO-oof!" 

Kero clotheslined himself neatly on Touya's arm and sank to the floor, gasping for air. 

Ah, beautiful silence. 

Touya opened his door and beat a hasty retreat before the Plushie could figure out who to yell at. He sighed and kicked his slippers off, safely in the borders of his room. Kero didn't intrude on his personal space, thanks to their informal truce: he didn't question what Sakura was doing, and the Plushie stayed out of his face. As long as he stayed inside, they were safe for another few hours. Life was good again. Except… 

There was something wrong with his bed. 

Touya rubbed his eyes and looked again, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He was fairly certain he had left his bed relatively orderly, but now it looked like a multi-colored tornado. His blankets were knotted in a strange swirl, spiraling around the center of the bed. That in and of itself wasn't so weird, but there were so _many_ of them all of a sudden… He stepped closer, not quite sure what to make of the situation. 

Yuki was curled up in a ball in the dead center, completely wrapped in the comforter(s). Well, not merely _wrapped_, Touya thought. It was like he was doing his best impression of a multi-fabriced burrito. Reds, yellows, greens…and he was quite sure he'd never seen that afghan before. The thing that really caught his eye though, was the strange fringe hanging off the side of the bed. It was a weird lump of gray that looked too fine to be cloth, but it was thick and leading straight back into the pile of-- 

Oh. 

Touya shook his head and sighed. Yue had the most amazing way of making a guy feel like an idiot. Especially since he always insisted on showing up at the randomest times. If Touya didn't know any better, he'd swear the Guardian _enjoyed_ confusing him. 

Right on cue, the Yue-cocoon shifted and the top layer of blankets rearranged itself. "Well?" a silky voice murmured from the gap. 

"Huh?" Touya blinked. 

Yue rolled over and peeled the rest of the covers away from his face. He looked slightly annoyed. Then again, he always looked slightly annoyed. 

"Did you kill Cerberus?" the Moon Guardian asked. 

"What--? Uh…sort of." 

"That's good…" Yue replied noncommittally, and closed his eyes. 

Touya paused, not sure what exactly was expected of him. He never knew how he should behave around Yue, but he usually just ignored his reservations and treated him like Yuki. To a point. He honestly had no idea what to do in this particular circumstance, since he didn't know how Yue would react to him crawling into bed with him. Which was a pity, since it was damn cold and those blankets looked terribly inviting. 

Yue flipped an orange rug-looking thing aside, revealing a tantalizing expanse of creamy flesh. One slender, bare arm spread out on the bed, stretching toward the dark-haired boy. Touya swallowed hard, and his heart jumped directly to his throat—do not pass go, do not collect $200. 

_Dear lord, is he_ naked_ under there?!_

Then the Guardian shifted again, revealing that he was indeed wearing clothing: Touya wasn't sure if he should be relieved or disappointed. He vaguely noticed that it wasn't Yue's usual outfit, which surprised him a little…somehow, it had never occurred to him that Yue had anything else to wear. It wasn't _much_ different—white pants and a shirt—but the top was gaping open, and there was a conspicuous lack of sleeves. 

"These are my bed-clothes." Yue announced matter-of-factly. "You don't need to stare at them." 

Touya nodded dimly, still not sure how to respond. 

Yue's lips curled into what could _almost_ be considered a smile. He rolled onto his side and swept a few more afghans aside, staring at Touya almost hungrily. 

"Well?" He purred. "In or out?" 

_Oh, definitely IN. _

Touya's heart was racing as he slid under the covers, but he wasn't fool enough to let the opportunity go by. Hands shaking, he pulled himself onto the bed as quickly as he dared and lay on top of the covers, close to—but not quite touching--Yue. That seemed like a good compromise. No need to make any embarrassing assumptions. 

"Jeez, what did you do to my bed?" he groused, trying to act like he wasn't nervous. "You've got the sheets all screwed up." 

"It's cold!" Yue replied. 

Touya was highly skeptical. 

"YOU are cold." 

"Yes." 

_"You."_

"Yes." 

"You…" 

"Do I have to repeat myself again, or are you going to shut up and get in here where it's warm?" 

Okay, so compromise was not an option. Touya sucked in a slow breath and scooted back toward the pillows. He supposed he didn't mind, if Yue wanted him…in bed…under the covers…he just needed to be sure that, well… 

Yue scowled and shoved a comforter over Touya's feet. "Here, that's a start." 

Touya blinked, then started burrowing, trying hard not to brush his flailing limbs too close to the guardian. He wouldn't want Yue to think he was taking advantage of the situation, just because he was near and beautiful and oh-so-very-touchable… 

Yue's hand was on his hip. 

"Hnnn?" Yue cocked his head to one side. It was exactly what Yuki did when he was playing around, usually when he…oh dear… 

Touya closed his eyes and thought about it, trying hard to take things logically (which was difficult with Yue's other hand tickling along his chest). He'd always hoped this day might come, but he'd never actually discussed it with the two of them. It had seemed too arrogant to assume Yue would want him exactly as Yukito did, so he'd never actually _asked_ what they thought of each other…lord knew the last thing he wanted to do was make one jealous. Still, they'd gotten along this long without starting World War Three, so maybe it that meant it would be okay to try something a little different… 

Very, very slowly, he wrapped his arms around Yue-- 

--and found Yukito smiling back at him, giving him one of his not-so-innocent grins. 

"'Morning, To-ya." he twittered, and burrowed his face into the crook of Touya's neck as if nothing remotely out of the ordinary had just happened. 

"Why you little--!" Touya attempted to be offended but realized almost immediately that it was a lost cause. Yuki's arms were twining around his and his lips were moving to intercept…When they finally separated, he honestly couldn't remember what he'd been complaining about. Then he saw the afghan Yuki was currently wearing around his shoulders and remembered all over again. 

"So what was _that_ all about?" he asked, trying hard to peel his enthusiastic bedmate off his neck. 

"Mmm? Oh, Yue?" It was strange to hear Yuki talk about him so flippantly. There had been a time when Yuki was so worried about Yue that he wouldn't even kiss Touya, let alone…do anything else together. It had been a very trying time for the both of them. Well, that's how Yuki put it. Touya had been climbing the walls, wanting to resolve their "long burning unrequited attraction" (which was the only way he could say it around Yukito and not get kicked in the shins). 

Yuki certainly didn't show any hesitation now as he ran a chilly hand down into a particularly sensitive region. "Well, you got out of bed and it was cold, and the stupid heater wasn't working, so Yue took over and tried to make the place warmer with one of his spells." 

"So _he_ was the source of the Infini-blankets?" Touya asked, poking at an ugly flannel number. 

"Yeah, I guess." Yuki wrinkled his nose, the way he always did when he was thinking hard. "I don't remember too well when I'm him. Or when we're him? Or we're me? I still don't know what pronouns we--I should use. To-ya, what do you think?" 

Touya groaned and silenced him with a kiss. 

"I think," he said, "you should stop worrying about that and start worrying about what else was happening." He left it vague, just in case Yuki didn't actually remember anything. If he didn't already know Yue had been—extremely friendly toward him, for lack of better words—Touya figured it was probably better he didn't find out now. 

"Oh…sorry." Yuki smiled apologetically. "He was just…" He paused for a moment and got that far-away look that he usually did when he was talking with his "other half". Touya waited patiently for him to finish, amused as usual by the way Yuki's lips twitched when he was responding to Yue. 

"Yue doesn't like winter." Yuki finally said, as if that was any kind of explanation. 

"What?" Touya blinked. 

"He just said that he doesn't like winter. Never has." 

"Weird." Touya ran one hand through his hair. Then again, that was the sort of response he'd grown accustomed to from Yue—insubstantial and totally irrelevant. Maybe the Guardian figured he could just confuse people into submission. 

"It IS kind of weird." Yuki said, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "I mean, *I* like snow, and I think Yue does too, and neither of us mind Christmas, but there's something about the season itself that…I don't know. Winter's just bad, that's all." 

Suddenly his breath hitched, and Yuki's voice hardened around the edges. His brown eyes narrowed to slits and he moved his face closer, until his lips were almost touching Touya's ear. 

"Actually," Yue whispered, "there is _one_ thing I like about winter." 

Then, as quickly as he'd come, he was gone. Yuki's face returned to normal, sliding back into his typical grin. Touya finally let out the breath he'd been holding. 

"I wish he wouldn't do that!" Yuki scowled. "It's really disorienting." 

"Yeah." Touya agreed, and pressed his nose to Yuki's. Yuki rubbed back, completing the Eskimo kiss, and then proceeded to make good on Yue's earlier suggestion of an ear-nibble. They leaned back together, just beginning to explore the real estate under the afghan, when a loud, insistent knock split the air. Touya swore. 

"'Nii-chan, it's SNOWING~~~!!!!" Sakura's ecstatic voice squealed just outside his door. Kero was howling in the background too, something unintelligible that had a lot to do with "snowballs" and "vengeance, you idiots!" 

Yuki squeaked and bolted up right, pulling a blanket around his shoulders just in case Hurricane Sakura-Kero decided to barge in. He scrambled to his feet and dashed for his clothes, panicking the entire time. Touya groaned and buried his face in the nearest blanket, mentally rehearsing his "Yuki, why don't we just get an apartment?" speech yet again. He knew Yue wanted to stay closer to Sakura then Yukito's old house allowed, but there was a _great_ duplex just a few blocks away that would give them some privacy… 

"You getting up yet?" Yuki asked him cheerfully, already half-way into his sweater. 

"Yeah, in a minute." 

"'Nii-chan, DID YOU HEAR ME?!!!! I wanna go skating!" Sakura howled. 

"I think Sakura wants to go to the park." Yuki observed. 

"Yeah, in a minute." 

"—wait 'til I get ya outside!" Kero shouted from the hallway. "I'll _destroy_ you, you no good party-poopin' piece of---" 

"Yeah, in a minute." 

Finally giving in to the inevitable, Touya decided to get up and face the day. He made sure to punch the old heater again, just for good measure. 

~_~ 

Touya had to admit, the park _was _a pretty good idea. 

There hadn't really been enough snow on the ground to do anything productive, but Sakura had fixed that quickly enough with a few of her Cards. "Snow" had piled on a good foot and a half of the stuff all across the soccer fields with drifts up to six, and "Freeze" had done a great job turning the ornamental pond into a skating rink. Sakura was on it now, turning in lazy circles as Tomoyo filmed for posterity, sparkling all the way. Touya shook his head and leaned back against a tree. Sometimes, he wondered about that relationship… 

Then again, he smirked, sometimes he wondered about a lot of relationships. 

He looked skyward, trying to locate the bright spots of silver and gold zooming around between the clouds. Yue and Kero had actually managed to get themselves into a semi-fair snowball fight, amazingly enough—they were only using magic up in the air where it couldn't hurt anybody. It hadn't started out that way, of course—Sakura had had some Words with them about shooting icicles too close to Tomoyo-chan's head—but at least they were watching it now. Touya shifted in the snow, still slightly uncomfortable that he had started their conflict. Well, technically the Plushie had started it by throwing an entire snow drift at Touya's head, but Touya still felt bad that Yue was off fighting the battle for him. 

"Don't worry, 'nii-chan." Sakura called from the ice. "I'm sure they're having fun." She was grinning happily, waving her arms in big circles as she tried to keep her balance. "Look, I learned how to backwards skate!" 

"They probably would have found something else to argue about anyway." Tomoyo pronounced. Touya whirled around, startled to find the girl right next to him. She gave him a pretty smile and whispered, "And I'm sure Yue-san is happy to be defending your honor." 

Touya couldn't resist giving her a Look. That girl... Tomoyo smiled again, and flounced off with her camera, encouraging Sakura to show her the Triumphant Finishing Pose of the Card Captor—On Ice! Sakura fell over. 

Touya turned his gaze back to the sky and watched as the Guardians came down for more ammunition, whipping up powdery snow-tornados as they landed. So far, it seemed like neither party had landed any blows—Yue was as immaculate as ever, and Kero wasn't whining nearly enough. He watched, amused, as they flung a few hunks of snow at each other and hurled insults faster, both trying to form as many snowballs as possible. It was strange to think of Yue holding a grudge over burned pudding, but he certainly made it *sound* like the most important thing in the world. Yue's cheeks were flushed from exertion, and his eyes flashed more animatedly than Touya had ever seen them. Like this, he could almost think of Yue like Yukito. 

Like Yukito… 

He had a brief flashback to the morning and that confusing encounter, and thought about what Yuki had said. It was true, Touya noticed as he watched Yue flit over the park grounds. As much as he'd intuitively thought Yue would be at home in the snow, there was a strange sort of dissonance. He never actually _touched_ the stuff, preferring instead to form his weapons with magic and float them around him, and he always kept his feet exactly three inches above the drifts. Yue _matched_ the snow, but he didn't fit in with it. 

Kero, on the other hand, was having a grand old time jumping right through the snowdrifts—as comfortable in his environment as a fish in the ocean. If he got stuck, he simply burned his way through with a blast of his flame, melting the snow right down to the ground. Touya sincerely hoped Sakura had some good way to take care of THAT, or the groundskeepers were going to be awfully unhappy at the burned patches of grass on the soccer greens next spring. 

Yue saw him watching and paused his latest assault for a moment, letting a wall of spinning snowballs hang in place right in front of Cerberus. His cold eyes scrutinized Touya, looking at him like a predator stalking his prey, and then he made his choice. With a wave of his hand he sent another round of snow artillery flying at Kero-chan, and began floating in Touya's general direction. 

Touya started to sweat. 

"Do you need something?" the Guardian asked formally, moving in a little too close for comfort. Since he was levitating, they could see eye to eye, which made the experience that much more unnerving. 

"Uh, not really." Touya said lamely. Why did Yue have to _loom_ all the time? 

"I would like to apologize for my behavior this morning." Yue said stiffly. "I did not mean to confuse you. I just wanted…" he trailed off and colored slightly. 

"No, it's okay." Touya replied, mentally filling a LOT of things in that blank. He decided to play it safe and assume that Yue mean "wanted to be warmer." "I just wasn't expecting to see you, that's all." 

"If there is nothing else, I shall leave you to my Other Half." Yue said briskly, and his wings moved to cover him. 

"Hey, hang on there—" Touya began. 

Neither of them saw it coming. 

A blur of orange and yellow streaked past Touya's head and slammed hard into Yue's side, catapulting them both to the left. The Moon Guardian dropped like a stone and disappeared into a snow drift, exactly as if the ground had risen up and swallowed him. 

"Yue!" Touya called, more startled than anything else. "What the--?" 

The ground trembled and snow sprayed everywhere as two forms thrashed about in the snow bank. Yue, on the bottom, was flailing his wings desperately in an attempt to sit up; Kero, the attacker, was straddling Yue's waist and looking extremely pleased with himself. Tail swishing proudly, the lion raised his head and bellowed his triumph. 

"Look, Sakura, I made a snow angel!!!!" 

~_~ 

They went home after that, Sakura arguing with Kero the entire way (Yue, of course, was refusing to say _anything_), and Touya could only roll his eyes at the collective Ridiculous. There were some days that living with sorcerers was entertaining, and others when it twisted the definition of "sanity" so severely that it bent over and screamed for mercy. Touya glanced up at their temporary hearthplace and sighed. Sakura had managed to create a nice stone fireplace in the living room (which looked suspiciously like a transmogrified Sun Guardian), but the fire was burning upside down in protest. 

"You don't have to stick your tongue out at _me_." Touya reminded the Firey. "It's the Plushie's fault you're stuck there." 

The flaming nymph didn't seem to hear him and went on making faces in his general direction. 

Touya gave up and turned toward Yue, who was sitting on the floor and looking absolutely miserable. "Here." Touya said simply, and handed the creature a fresh towel. 

Yue accepted it silently and added it to the collection already adorning his person, looking more and more like a patchwork quilt by the minute. He'd said he couldn't stand Changing back until he was properly warmed up and dried off, but at the rate this was going it would be _years_ before anyone saw Yuki again. Touya scowled at the fire and began thinking of a few more ways to torture the mangy Sun Guardian. 

"I really hate this." the Moon Guardian sighed in an uncharacteristic blast of emotion, trying desperately to blot more water out of his soggy hair and wings. 

Touya nodded, still amazed by the sight of the feathery appendages Up Close and Personal. He'd only seen Yue with them a couple times before, and generally it was either because Sakura was in danger or Kero was stuck in a tree. He'd never actually just sat down and _looked_ at them, how the thin veins were crystal and half-iridescent. Even laded with water, they were absolutely beautiful. 

He touched one before he even knew it, stroking one of the long primaries with his forefinger. It quivered beneath his touch and he ran his finger up to its source, tracing the shape of the entire feather. How _did_ they stay attached there, he wondered… 

"D-don't do that." the Moon Guardian gasped breathlessly as Touya's fingers reached between the feathers, and whipped his wing back so hard that half-melted snow sprayed out over the room. 

"I'm sorry." Touya said truthfully, hastily withdrawing his hand. "Didn't know it hurt." 

"…it doesn't." Yue said primly, and refused to elaborate. He shook his wings briskly, then turned his head to the side and stared pointedly into the fire (who was currently spinning in circles in the hearth place). It was clear that that conversation was Over. 

The water dripping from Yue's wings was loud in the ensuing silence. Even the fire was quiet, as if the whole room was waiting for something. Touya cursed the world silently and handed the Guardian another towel. Why was it that every time he thought he was making some headway, Yue turned everything on its ear? Be careful and respectful, and he messes with your head. Try and treat him like Yuki, and the stupid Guardian pulls away and acts offended. Touya resisted the urge to scream. Unearthly beauty or not, he couldn't help but have the urge to throttle the living daylights out of the insufferable creature. 

Yue reached for another towel and Touya handed it to him, not sure what else he was supposed to do. Maybe, if he still had his magic, he could sense what he had to do next, so he wouldn't keep screwing it up all the time. Maybe he could convince Yue to trust him enough that they wouldn't always have to be side-stepping each other everywhere they went. Maybe… 

Maybe he was just doing too much thinking. 

Maybe, every now and again, he needed to just sit back and _feel_. 

He picked up another towel and scooted closer, mindful of the wings this time. Yue looked startled but didn't say anything. Nor did he move away as Touya wrapped the cloth around his shoulders. 

"You don't have to be doing this, you know." the Guardian said finally, and his wings quivered slightly. 

"I know." Touya replied. "But I'd like to." 

"Why?" Yue replied quickly, and Touya recognized the edge in his tone. Normally, he would reply _Because I'd like to get to know you better._ or _Because that's what friends are for!_ or something similarly trite, and Yue would see through it and punch holes in his argument immediately, twisting the phrase's meaning until Touya finally gave up in exasperation. Now, Touya just closed his eyes and felt for the answer, felt it's _rightness_. 

"Because." he said simply, and peeled a used towel out of the Guardian's hair. 

"Because _why_?" Yue asked, sounding slightly annoyed. 

"Just 'cause." Touya grinned back, dropping into the easy rhythm of banter he always used with Yuki. 

"Why?" Yue replied, more lightly this time. His voice was starting to take on Yuki's breathier tones, and Touya swore he could almost see the faint twinges of a smile tickling at the corners of Yue's mouth. 

"'Cause you could use a hand here." 

"Why?" 

"'Cause you got yourself all wet." 

"Why?" 

"'Cause you were fighting with Kero." 

"Why?" 

"I don't know, you tell me…" 

They continued playing the "why" game for another few minutes, becoming progressively more ridiculous, until Yue finally snorted and flipped a wing back to thwap Touya in the face. 

"Hey!" the dark-haired boy laughed, shoving at the feathers. "No fair!" 

"_Why_?" Yue asked, and this time his smile was plain. It wasn't quite Yukito, but the feeling behind it was genuinely friendly, and somehow that was even more exceptional. Touya spent a long time just staring, memorizing every little detail of the Guardian's face. Everything felt so _right_ now, so comfortable, that it was mystery how they'd never played like this before. 

They spoke of other things then, content just to relax and share the heat of the fire while Yue waited for the rest of his feathers to dry. Eventually, Touya realized it was also right to ask the question he'd been pondering all day. 

"Yuki said you don't like winter." he said simply, lifting the last of the towels from Yue's shoulders. "Why's that?" 

"I should think it's fairly obvious." Yue snorted and wiggled his wings mockingly. "Snow is a pain to get out of one's feathers. And it's too cold and windy to fly, and Cerberus always gets stir-crazy, and there's absolutely _nothing_ to do." 

The answer seemed reasonable enough, yet his expression was shadowed, and Touya could practically see him shrinking in to himself. "There's something else to it, isn't there." Touya accused. 

"…Perhaps." 

Another one of those teasing half-answers. Yue flipped his head haughtily and pressed his lips into a firm, thin line. Normally, this would be Touya's cue to end the discussion, but today… 

Today he wasn't buying it. 

"Something happened, didn't it?" he pressed. 

"You---" For a moment, it looked like Yue was on the verge of bolting, as if that single question had offended him to the core. Then he sighed, and his expression softened. "Things die in the winter." he said simply. 

"I lost someone once, in the winter." 

Touya nodded. "I understand." 

Yue's nostrils flared angrily and he whipped his head back. "I sincerely doubt—" 

Touya glanced toward his mother's picture, perched up on the top of the piano, and Yue followed suit. 

"Actually, yes, I do." 

"It's not the same though." Yue continued, looking somewhat subdued. "My master was…I…" he trailed off into silence, staring at the fire. 

"What?" 

For a moment, Yue was silent, and then he turned to study him, swiveling until they could truly see eye to eye. Touya had never noticed his eyes before, how unearthly they looked in the glow of the fire-light. The catslit pupils widened as they fixed on the human boy's face, and quivered slightly, as large and round as moons. 

Yue gave him a tiny smile and turned his face away. 

"Nothing." he said, and that was the end of it. "Nothing at all." 

And then a comfortable silence, as they simply sat by the fire and watched it dance. It was burning right-side up, finally. Eventually, Yue spoke again. 

"To-ya?" 

This time it was Yue that looked a little off-kilter, as he borrowed Yuki's pronunciation. Touya could only shake his head at the two of them, and the strange fate that had brought the three of them together. 

"Mmm?" Touya said, brushing one hand along the downy feathers of Yue's right wing. 

Yue leaned closer, eyes flashing. 

"This is what I like about winter." he whispered and leaned in for the kiss, wrapping his wings around them as they sat by the fireplace on a chilly winter's afternoon. 

* * *

(Told you it was WAFF. Now you'll excuse me if I go hide in a hole for a while… :D ) 

2, 4, 6, 8! What do I appreciate?  
Reviews! 


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